halfords. fraud of fiction?

[ohnovino]

what do you know of the stock system to brand it so awful?

Every time I've reserved a product online to pick up, I've turned up at the store and they haven't had a clue what to do. Twice they didn't even have the item I'd reserved. When my cousin bought his bike from Halfords he was told four times that it had arrived in store, only to travel there each time and find they didn't have it. Other posts elsewhere on this forum suggest the online operation doesn't integrate properly with the in-store operation.

And when we recruit for specific jobs we do aim at people with skills, but obviously we also hire sales people, we sell things, it makes sense.

Here is a job advert for a BikeHut mechanic. It's a little worrying that the only mention of mechanical skills comes as the penultimate item, and even then you only need the "ability to achieve the Halfords BCA qualification". Odd that they don't use Cytech like everyone else. Obviously the ad doesn't sum up everyone who works there, and a good manager will hire the right person for the job, but it doesn't inspire confidence.

Prices are never raised -that is the normal price - but some of the sale prices do hang around for a long time! Not unlike other stores though.

The website used to give a price history for every bike, and it was common to see own brand bikes sold at "RRP" for a matter of days then dropped back to "30% off". You're right that a lot of other stores do it too (especially the big supermarkets), although I've never seen it in another bike shop.

 

[Globalti]

I'd have liked to have bought a Boardman CX bike, I really liked it but the prospect of falling into the hands of Halfrauds on a warranty issue made me go to a small LBS and buy a Specialized CX instead.

 

[Psycolist]

The most recent horror story is from a family friend. At Xmas, the son was keen to have a BMX. Had cash from friends and family and in January of this year went with ma + pa to the local Halfords. Left the shop with a bike he liked and could afford, nothing cheap and nasty, it was @ £160 ! As he rode to his parents car the stem failed to stay connected to the forks, so he went one way and the bike went the other, No harm done but pa was very angry and said that he wanted the bike properly checked by the stores mechanic before leaving with it again. He was then told that it would be a full 7 days before that check could be undertaken. So, better safe than sorry, said that they would return in 7 days. A week later they returned to be told that the mechanic had been off sick and that nothing had been done to the bike as yet. At this stage I would have said MONEY BACK NOW, but son was keen to stick with it and so an arrangement for the store to ring pa when the bike was ready. 3 days later a call was recieved and son and pa went to the store after work to collect the bike. After a 25m wait for someone to find sons bike, it was handed over, no apology or offer of recompense but off son and pa went. Once home, son was earger to go out on his new ride. Pa watched as son pedaled away down the road,watched as he went to do a back wheel skid while slewing the bike sideways, as kids do, to find he had no rear brake. It was a simple cable pinch bolt that hadnt been tightened properly so pa got out his 10mm spanner and soon sorted it, but, as the bike was supposed to have been checked as ready to ride, he had the good sense to bring the bike to me for a quick look. I found a catalogue of problems, from loose wheel nuts to misaligned brake pads, under inflated tyres, loose chain, a loose pedal and dubiously adjusted crank bearings. Pa waited until the next day, rang Halfords during the day and spoke to the store manager, returned the bike that evening and was given a refund. The family have since bought the same bike from the internet, had me do the final fix and hav'nt looked back.

 

[akb]

They were excellent in finding and suppliying (FOC) some replacement Cycle carrier rack straps for my old halfords rack. So thumbs up.
I havent brought bike bits from them as I would rather wait and save money by going via CRC or Wiggle. The only things I have brought from them is some finger less mitts. Load of crap; brought them about 4 weeks ago, used them for 2-3 hour Mountain bikings sessions every Sunday since and they have no fallen apart. £20 wasted.

 

[akb]

Ref Bike Hut mechanics; I think the general concensus on CC is that yes, buy a bike from Halfords; just take it home and build it and dont let their mechanics touch the bike.

 

[Razor08]

Halfords in York have always been poor at cycle repairs see alarming link attached
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9352324.Cyclist_sues_York_store_after_crash/

 

[lip03]

isolated incodent?? dosent seem isolated to me

 

[Sandra6]

ohnovino - I've heard similar about stock issues since joining this forum and I just don't understand it.
Basically if a customer goes online to reserve an item it tells you which stores it's available at - as stock is adjusted automatically via the till the computer, in theory, knows who has what where - the only time it goes wrong is when stock is low on small items because often the last two or three showing in stock have actually been nicked! Doesn't really happen with bikes, although we did lose one once. Obviously it's not a foolproof system and some stores must be better at organising themselves than others.
With the job advert - as it's only offering nmw I don't imagine they'd be looking for a full on mechanic, it'll be a spotty yoof to be trained up. Not ideal I know, but someones got to give them jobs, right?!
I must admit though I was shocked when we recruited for the bike hut that they took on people who didn't even own cycles, I would've thought that was an essential criteria, but hey ho.
I would also say that it is very telling that when I asked for advice on a new bike from my colleagues they all pointed me in the direction of other bike shops!

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Great customer service there today, explained everything to me, gave me some free allen keys and fitted some cleats to my shoes and replaced bolts on them for free. Great guy.

 

[edindave]

I returned a bike recently, a Viking Fixed.

I described a problem with the rear wheel. When I spun it holding on to the axle, I felt nasty vibrations as if it had gravel instead of bearings. The guy confidently told me, "that's because it's a new bike, the bearings take a while to wear in" ...

Another issue with the rear wheel was the join in the rim. It was razor sharp, which resulted in the tyre being flat the morning after I took it home. It had a 5mm tear on the side of the tube.

What else, oh yes bite marks in the bar tape, damaged in transit apparently.

Also they had lost the pedals and manual that came with it. I was stunned when they pretended to look for them, raking through a Carrera box. Erm... it's not a Carrera.

I also explained that the bike was a poor fit for me as well, and I would need to spend money on it to get a shorter stem and smaller bars.

So I said I'd just like a refund please they guy tried to fob me off with "I can't make a decision today, need to speak to my manager who isn't in".

I reminded him of the 28 day returns policy and amazingly the manager suddenly appeared from the back, and once they realised they couldn't play the "did you by it on cycle to work scheme" card as a further evasion tactic, I got a refund.

 

[MrJamie]

I tend to buy everything online these days, although I found Halfords to be generally reasonably helpful if sometimes they would leave you waiting for 20minutes while they were otherwise engaged and their sale prices are silly much in the same way as Sports Direct have 70% off everything 99% of the time and internet only prices that are 1 click away on the till are a bit silly too.

In Halfords favour though I found several staff in a couple of LBS to be utterly disinterested and unhelpful, despite having a great reputation - presumably with higher end customers.

 

[jdtate101]

I once bought a Boardman Road 'Race' from Halford's........online. Put it together myself as I would never trust my local Branch to touch my bike let alone set it up for me. Last time I went in there I spotted a kid leaving the store with the dreaded 'fork on backwards' mistake. I did stop him and got his dad to take it back, do you know what the bikehut 'tech' said..."well it shouldn't make a difference to how it rides".....SHOCKING.

I get everything now done by my LBS (bicicielo in Birmingham) where they are real craftsmen and offer exceptional customer care.

 

[edindave]

Also they had lost the pedals and manual that came with it. I was stunned when they pretended to look for them, raking through a Carrera box. Erm... it's not a Carrera.

I forgot to add. This was the second bike I bought from Halfords that came with missing pedals and manual. Same thing happened with my Boardman Hybrid Pro back in 2009, but I let it go at the time as I was too excited about getting the bike.

Bizarre. Maybe there is some mysterious creature in the Seafield store that eats pedals

 

[Accy cyclist]

i dont doubt for a minute that not every lbs is great but most are run by people that have an active interest in bikes surely?

It isn't really a local bike shop, it's one of a few that operate around these parts. The true lbs's still exist on a few high streets and street corners and they as expected, are run by bike enthusiasts.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Me in Halfords 2001/2 " I want to buy a bike"
Salesman "well, there is this one, that one or one over there"

At local LBS twenty mins later with the same question;

LBS " what do you want to use it for?"
After a few mins I had bought my bike from them. In general they seemed more keen for me to get the right bike more than a sale, that said I spent twice what I was planning to spend in Halfords.